1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and in particular, to a technique relating to cleaning for a fixing section provided for the image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a conventional technique relating to cleaning for a fixing section in an image forming apparatus, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-045579 discloses a technique as follows. That is, when a paper jam (fixing jam) occurs at the fixing section, a paper sheet is passed through the fixing section every time after the fixing jam is released by removing the jammed paper sheet by a user, so as to clean the fixing section.
According to the conventional technique described above, even if the image forming apparatus is not provided with an inherent cleaning mechanism for the fixing section, it is possible to prevent deterioration in image quality due to contamination of the fixing section, which is caused by the paper jam (fixing jam) at the fixing section, by utilizing a printing paper sheet as a cleaning paper sheet. However, the fixing section is not always contaminated when the paper jam occurs at the fixing section. Therefore, there is fear that time and paper sheets are wastefully consumed by cleaning the fixing section unnecessarily.
In view of the above, the present teaching discloses a technique which suppresses any waste when the fixing section is cleaned.